Saudi Arabia and Egypt revive $4bn Red Sea causeway project

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning to build a giant causeway across the Red Sea connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the KSA as part of a huge cash injection aimed at boosting the Egyptian economy. The commitment was made during King Salman’s visit to Cairo last week.The causeway proposal revives an initiative between the two nations that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak abandoned in 2005 over environmental concerns about damaging the Red Sea coral reefs, as well as for security concerns; Northern Sinai is today a base of Islamist insurgents who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State. If it now gets the go-ahead, the causeway would probably stretch from Ras Nasrani, close to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Ras Hamid in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Its cost has been estimated at between $3bn and $4bn and would be expected to boost the Egyptian economy through increased trade and tourism as well as opening up a new route for pilgrims visiting Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia.During King Salman’s visit, he and the Eqyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi oversaw the signing of a number of agreements worth more than $20bn pledging Saudi support for Egypt’s energy and agricultural sectors and the development of the Sinai region.